Jackson Browne's career is often seen as being in two parts: The first is his more personal '70s period, during which he was as prolific and profound as any songwriter in popular music, crafting such enduring classic albums as 'Late for the Sky,' 'The Pretender' and his eponymous debut. The second act in the Browne saga occurred in the more overtly political '80s and '90s, a time marked by such worthwhile hits as 'Lives in the Balance,' 'Lawyers, Guns and Money' and 'World in Motion.' Having just turned 60, Browne is bringing those two aspects together on his new album 'Time the Conqueror.' Of course, to talk to Browne, there is no separating the two. It's clear that the political drives his personal. Spinner talked to the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer about his looking back from age 60 at his career, the hypocrisy of the U.S.'s Cuban embargo and its effect on that country's musicians, as well as his admiration for both Bob Dylan's gift for presenting both the personal and the political and Ben Harper's knack for connecting with an audience.

You just turned 60, which is one of those birthdays that prompts reflection. And one of the things about the new album is that you are looking back in places, and there's a sense of almost wistfulness.

I think if you permit yourself to look back, you really have to have a good reason. That's one thing I really demand from the song: You better have a good reason to take us there. [When] I say us, I mean you and me, and everybody, 'cause a song has to have a good reason for being there. So I require that of writing songs. In the two notable cases of looking back, 'Wonderland' and 'Giving That Heaven Away,' I do take the occasion to sort of examine the values or the idealism that I grew up with and try to make a case for existing in the present as well.

It's not quite 10 a.m. when Nick Cave shows up in the lobby of L.A.'s trendy Roosevelt Hotel. While the early hour is impressive enough given that Cave headlined the Hollywood Bowl the night before, the Australian auteur has been up writing since six. It's all part of the workmanlike approach the 50-year-old Cave -- who's earned the best reviews of his storied career for this year's 'Dig, Lazarus, Dig' album -- takes to his work, traveling to an office every day to write. If it sounds surprisingly disciplined, don't worry, Nick Cave is still every bit the wild rock 'n' roll star that music could use more of.

And it makes for one hell of an entertaining and controversial interview as Cave talks about everything from how he knows he is more well-endowed than Jim Morrison to the craft of songwriting to why a sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll phase might not be the worst thing for young people.

Congratulations on the show last night.

Oh, yeah?

You said in the L.A. Times you wanted to rip the audience's heads off. Did you feel like you did that?

Well, we were told by various people that it's a notoriously difficult venue, that it's very difficult to engage with the audience because of various different reasons; the way the whole thing is set up, the way the bulk of the people are a million miles away, you're playing to people drinking and eating cheese and biscuits and all that sort of s---. So, we didn't discuss this, but I certainly felt that it was necessary to take certain steps to involve the audience. And I mean it seemed like the personnel at the Hollywood Bowl were making every attempt to disallow any real interaction between the audience and the performance.

Mark Oliver Everett is known to his fans as "E" -- frontman and sole proprietor of indie-rock's Eels. But the scientific community knows him as Mark Everett, son of Hugh Everett, the man who invented the 'Many Worlds' theory of Quantum Physics. It's a theory that turned the quantum world upside down and, half a century later, is still shape-shifting the way we look at the world (or, as the case may be, an infinite number of worlds, of which, ours is just one of an infinite number of parallels). If it sounds like the stuff of science-fiction, well, that's because countless movies and books have taken the idea of parallel worlds and run with it. But the truth is it may not be so fictional. As the theory has gained momentum and credibility, so has Hugh Everett's fame.

Unfortunately, Hugh Everett died when E was 19-years-old. E was always tight-lipped about his private life and so even the few science enthusiasts who figured out that their favorite songwriter was also the son of their favorite physicist had no idea that E not only discovered his dead father's body, but his mom also died in his arms (having lost a battle with cancer) shortly after his sister committed suicide. His cousin died on 9/11. His sister's boyfriend tried to stab him to death. He's had the kind of life few would want to survive, let alone write about for the world to read.

This week, Mark Everett's memoir, entitled 'Things the Grandchildren Should Know,' recently hit American shelves. PBS will air a NOVA film entitled 'Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives' about E's quest to find out more about his father and his theory. With last year's Eels compilation, 'Meet the Eels,' playing softly in the background, Spinner recently sat down for an unusually revealing conversation with the last surviving Everett.

How deep have you gotten into your dad's theory?

Well, it's one of those things that's so huge -- it has to do with how everything works. And it's such a heavy mind-blowing idea that it's hard for us to wrap our linear thinking minds around. Every time I start to really get a grasp on it, a few minutes later I lose it. Which, I think, is a common thing. The most I ever came to understanding it was during the filming of the documentary. I had the luxury of being taught by the leading quantum physics experts in the world. And the viewer gets to learn through my stupid eyes, along with me.

Al Green's voice is a national treasure. His smooth, soulful singing has crafted more romance with songs like 'Let's Stay Together,' 'I'm Still in Love With You' and 'Tired of Being Alone' than Victoria's Secret could ever dream of. And at 62, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer turned minister is still doing his part to lift the spirits of music fans with 'Lay It Down.' Produced by Roots drummer Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, the collection fits perfectly alongside Green's most beloved work. Green spoke with Spinner recently about the new album, his role in the population explosion and his friendly rivalry with the recently departed Isaac Hayes.

How's the tour going?

There are a lot of people. I did this section of the tour with Gladys Knight, and there are just a lot of people. I asked the man, "Who are all these people coming to see?" He said, "You." I said, "Oh, really?"

She's such an amazing vocalist. How does it influence you being onstage with someone like that night after night?

That makes the show a lot more fun and a lot more interesting. You got color and variety and, of course, she's a talented lady.

I imagine that working with Anthony Hamilton and Corrine Bailey Rae and having ?uestlove produce the album you've gotten some younger fans, as well. Has that been the case?

Oh, yeah, man, we've got white ones, black ones, red ones, Latinos, mom, daughter, her daughter. I said to kids, "Where'd you get the music from?" They said, "Mom plays it all the time. I'm riding in the minivan, that's all Mom plays." I guess it's pretty gratifying to know that your music has been responsible for the birth of a lot of kids. In the English cable, the first thing they said was, "Al, do you know how many kids have been born since you've been singing this music?" I said, "Oh, God, here we go. Well, I'm gonna have to wade in the water, 'cause I really don't know. But I can imagine that quite a few."

Bassist Peter Hook admits that he was very unhappy at first when he split from his longtime band New Order. But when he revisited the group's earlier albums for an upcoming back catalog release, Hook gained an appreciation for the work that he and his former band mates have done for almost 30 years. "When I listened to [them]," he tells Spinner, "it made me realize that petty squabbles apart, you did actually achieve quite a lot."

Now New Order's music is being celebrated with the upcoming Rhino reissues of their first five albums that were originally released on Factory Records. Due out in the U.S. on November 11, each of the albums is augmented with a bonus disc of non-album singles, B-sides and remixes.

Now, Hook has a new band, Freebass, which includes a configuration of three bass players -- himself, Gary 'Mani' Mounfield (ex-Stone Roses and now in Primal Scream) and Andy Rourke (formerly of the Smiths). Currently the group is working on an album featuring a cast of guest vocalists, including the Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan and Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie.

Hook, who is also known as 'Hooky,' speaks to Spinner about those early New Order albums, his current projects, including a book called 'How Not to Run a Club,' and the legacy of his former bands. He also reveals that New Order wasn't all that serious and detached as the band's image conveyed.

Congratulations Peter on the New Order reissues. What was the extent of your involvement with them?

It's a strange thought because I was having this discussion when we were arguing about content with the reissues. And now we're saying to the record company, "You can't f--- with this. It's a hell of an undertaking." To me, it's not to be taken light and [it needs] to be done properly. Most people never get one release, for God's sake.

Sarah McLachlan has no idea where her Grammys are. This is a detail that might trouble your average Rolling Stone cover-gracing, 40-million-album-plus-selling, historical festival-launching musician. Not McLachlan. "I think they're in my manager's office," she ponders to Spinner in Vancouver. "I should find out [laughs]. Oops. It's not that I don't care, really. Where do you put those things in a house, you know? They don't go unless you have some sort of a trophy room. I have none of those. It's like all my gold and platinum records -- they're sitting in bubble wrap in the basement."

No frills. Straight-shooting. Sarah McLachlan isn't entirely as her music sounds.

An adopted Novia Scotia-born art school girl who got her musical start at 17, McLachlan speaks with her pronounced Canadian accent about everything in particular -- fame, God, death, sex. If she has reservations regarding her responses, she doesn't show but, rather, laughs through her occasional disjointed and sometimes profanity-laced retorts, and continues on, all cards on the table. While she writes what many would consider categorically "sad" music, she generalizes herself as a categorically "happy" person, though she once joked that if there were a light at the end of the tunnel, she'd assume it was that of a nuclear bomb.

If you ever feel like challenging yourself to a comprehension test, try having a conversation with Lee "Scratch" Perry. The legendary reggae and dub artist and producer, once nicknamed the "Upsetter," is out there ... far out there. Half of this interview is missing because it was unintelligible or because Perry threw halves of sentences in the middle of other halves. It was hard enough trying to slice through his thick Jamaican dialect, but when you can understand what he's saying you realize that what he's saying doesn't always make much sense. When it does, it's usually pretty entertaining.

Now living in Switzerland, Perry recently constructed a home studio for the first time since he infamously burned down his "Black Ark" studio in Jamaica (a scandal he discusses in this interview), in which he recorded many of Bob Marley's early cuts. Having invented the technique known as "scratching," and having all but invented dub music, Perry continues to seek out new ventures to add to his impressively large canon. For his latest release, 'Repentance,' Perry made an unlikely bedfellow in bizarro-metaler Andrew W.K., who co-produced it, delivering a disc that, yet again, pushes his own boundaries. When Spinner tracked him down at his home in Switzerland, we had to persuade him to come to the phone at first. Finding him in a melancholic mood because of some canceled gigs, we promised we wouldn't discuss the tour. Instead, we got the original Mad Professor to open up about past demons and set the record straight - sort of - as well as delving into the new album.

You've been called many things but one word that gets repeated often is "innovator." Since music is always evolving, new innovations continue to occur. Following your innovations with dub and reggae, have there been any more recent developments - innovations - in music that currently excite you?

My music heals. And my music also kills. So my music is a double-sided sword. One side for healing, and when you reject to be healed, the other side is for killing. So my music is good and my music is bad. And my music is the innovator, your innovator, and there is nothing that my music cannot do. My music make rain come. My music make thunder, or my music make lightning flash. My music give life or my music take life. So there is nothing that my music cannot do.

After the release of 2003's 'St. Anger' -- the tumultuous making of which was chronicled in the documentary 'Some Kind of Monster' -- Metallica were nearly done for. The inner band battles and individual struggles of each member, and their subsequent triumphs, including sobriety, have culminated into what frontman James Hetfield dubs a "near-death experience." In fact, it's that which has inspired the band's new album, 'Death Magnetic,' which, to hear Hetfield tell it, almost never happened. Hetfield spoke to Spinner about the group's renewed focus, why Metallica is still relevant after nearly three decades, what he hopes for the world and just what power AC/DC has over him.

Listening to 'Death Magnetic' and the rest of your catalog, Metallica certainly knows how to write a live anthem or two.

Being the singer and the cheerleader of sorts I have to know what parts will be good for singing along and getting crowds motivated. You don't really know what's going to work until you get in that situation, but in the studio I try to identify with parts that the crowd will join in on without becoming too corny. Quite a few bands try to write the ultimate live anthem and it becomes very corny.

Greg Dulli has experienced indie hero worship before -- most famously when the Afghan Whigs' brilliant 1993 release 'Gentlemen' garnered the band both remarkable reviews and a major cult audience. But now 15 years older, Dulli is savoring the success of his current project, the Gutter Twins. A partnership with fellow indie stalwart Mark Lanegan, the album brought Dulli back to play on 'David Letterman' for the first time in a dozen years and earned the pair a spot at this summer's Lollapalooza.

The always outspoken and entertaining Dulli spoke with Spinner about working with Lanegan, returning to Sub Pop (his first home), upcoming projects, celebrity in the Internet age, and why classic-rock icons Lindsey Buckingham and Don Henley are lucky they didn't earn fame today.

How has working with another person accustomed to being a frontman affected you?

It's not as hard as you might think. Mark toured with the Twilight Singers, he did a hundred shows with us, so it wasn't like I didn't know how to do that. And, actually, we both discussed how it's a little easier when you're sharing the singing. You can breathe better, you don't get worn out as fast; all in all, it's a pretty positive experience. I'm sure that we'll both go back to doing our own thing and then we'll both come back to doing this again. In the best possible world, it's something we can do at a whim and probably for the rest of our lives.

Does the success of the project change your approach at all?

Our plan was to do this and then go back and do our own thing, and that is what we'll do. But will we come back and do another Gutter Twins record? Sure. I don't know when that will be. It may be 2012 or 2015 or 2020, but I know that we both want to do our own records next. And he's doing another Soul Savers record. Mark's much more busy than I am as far as with bands. He has, like, five; I only have two.

David Byrne doesn't seem the sentimental sort. A Talking Heads reunion at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony six years ago had his ex-bandmates beaming and the audience a little misty. It was, after all, the first performance by the legendary New Wave act in years. Byrne, however, seemed a little twitchy and uncomfortable that night.

But twitchiness and discomfort have served him well. They've resulted in more than three decades of music that rarely doubles back. Through his inventive work with the Heads and a variety of solo projects in addition to film, photography, art and running a label, Byrne comes across as a guy always thinking about the next thing.

Even when he doubles back, he doesn't. His new album is 'Everything That Happens Will Happen Today,' a collaboration with Brian Eno, who worked closely with Talking Heads during a particularly fertile period between 1978 and 1982. Byrne and Eno also released an album, 'My Life in the Bush of Ghosts,' an innovative fusion of pop and "world music" (the latter a phrase Byrne despises) during that period. That was the last collaboration between Byrne and Eno until its reissue two years ago sparked their collaboration on 'Everything,' which -- no surprise -- is anything but a sequel.

These songs have a nice mix of some modern digital sounds with some stripped-down organic touches. Was that sort of the plan going in?

No, actually there was no plan going in. Brian had some music tracks that he had done and didn't know how to finish them. He'd tried to make them into songs but he wasn't happy with his attempt do to it. I said, "Let me have a shot to do it." There is a lot of acoustic guitar strumming on them, which I didn't expect from him. But it was a pleasant surprise. A lot of it was ... there's this company called Steinberg who makes what's called virtual acoustic guitar. It's, like, a piece of software that triggers these samples of acoustic guitars that sound uncanny. The instrument itself is something you associate with a personal, organic sound. Yet the perfection of this triggered software-based version -- which is using real instruments -- it simultaneously evokes something human and inhuman at the same time. I think Brian found that attractive. Besides, it turned him instantly into a guitar player.